Seeing is not Believing
Even if you know what you saw
Have you ever seen a ghost? Many of you have. Perhaps even a majority. One online poll of 2000 people said that 3 in 5 people did, although this was undermined by 40% claiming that they believed their pet had seen a ghost too. That poll was from 2019. Another YouGov poll for the Sun in 2014 said that 34% of people believe in ghosts, but only 23% say they are religious. And yet 39% believe that a house can be haunted, which means 5% of people believe a house can be haunted but don’t believe in ghosts.
The problem here is that logic falls down pretty quickly. People believe wildly inconsistent things. This is really striking when listening to Uncanny, a BBC Radio 4 show which has recently finished its second series and is moving to television - as well as touring the nation with a live show.
I have written about this show before - see below - but the format is simple. People relate their supernatural experiences to the host, Danny Robins, who then talks to a sceptic and a ‘believer’ about what’s really going on.
The person relating the experience is normally extremely credible and highly articulate. They often describe multiple supernatural events in the same place over months or years.
What adds credibility to their testimony is their own scepticism. In the majority of cases, the person who has had the experiences says that they don’t actually believe in ghosts or the afterlife or any coherent religious belief system. At no point do they think to invite a priest to pray with them or help remove the evil spirit. But they remain adamant about their experience.
The theme tune by Lanterns on the Lake sets up this motif beautifully with the haunting refrain, ‘I Know what I Saw’:
Plenty of strange things happened when Jesus walked the earth. I’d like to come back to demons and unclean spirits another time. But Jesus certainly did supernatural things. And yet, we read very little scepticism about Jesus’ miracles in the gospels, even on the part of Jesus’ enemies.
There is a rare moment when Jesus’ enemies kick the tyres on the miracle in John 9 when the man born blind is healed, and they send for his parents to check he really was born blind. I talk a little bit about this in my Water into Wine show (which you can stream now, or book me to come to your church and do the show). I explain how, soon afterwards, Jesus does his biggest miracle, raising Lazarus who had been dead for four days. No swooning. He was wrapped and buried.
But what is the reaction of those who witness this miracle? They did not contest it. When they went back to those in the Temple, they joined in with those plotting to kill him. Even if you know what you saw, seeing is not believing.
Seeing is not Believing
Jesus tells the story of another Lazarus, a pauper who dies at the gate of a rich man. The rich man dies and goes into eternal torment, but calls out to Abraham, asking him to send Lazarus back to the land of the living to warn his brothers so
‘…that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:29-31)
This is rather chilling. It is intended to be.
Luke tells us that opening blind eyes is the work of God, and can be done by no-one else. It also tells us that those who say they are “open to believing if only there was proof”, don’t understand the nature of their own intractable unbelief.
David Baddiel has written about wanting to believe but being unable to recently in his new book, The God Desire. We talk about all this on the latest episode of Cooper and Cary Have Words in which we consider disorganised religion and what so-called unbelievers believe. Why not have a listen?
Christian family listening in the car?
The most useful thing I do with my time is make podcasts for Faith in Kids. They are something to listen to in the car as a family. They contain comedy, Bible, a short talk and discussion questions. It’s all packed into about twenty minutes. People seem to like them. Why not give them a try, or recommend the show to someone who might be interested? We’re about to release our hundredth episode, so there’s plenty to catch up for that very long drive to and from the Lake District.
Deja-Vu
One of the downsides of writing a weekly Substack, setting down the various thoughts swirling around in your head, is that you realise you’ve basically written this before. Back in October I wrote about Uncanny and made exactly the same point, although quoted a different part of scripture. Ah well.
Uncanny is one of many shows I’ve been listening to in trying to understand how people relate to the supernatural along with The Haunted Cosmos, Blurry Creatures and certain episodes of The Cultish podcast which all have a Christian perspective.
I’m not keen to have a supernatural experience myself. And be warned. As they say on the Cultish podcast - and as I say on the Cooper and Cary Have Words episode - being too inquisitive into these things when you’re not anchored in the Word and the Church is dangerous since these things are all there to lead you slowly and carefully away from Christ. Bad idea. Anyway, here’s what I wrote in October:
